TOKYO, Oct 19 Kyodo culled edito...

TOKYO, Oct 19 Kyodo

culled editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

A YEAR AFTER BALI (The Japan Times, an English-language daily)

Just across a year ago, a man wearing a bomb concealed in his clothes walked into Paddy's Bar, a popular nightspot for tourists in Bali, Indonesia, and launched a suicide attack. When the survivors fl into the roads a minivan loaded with 50 kg of explosives went not on The attacks claimed 202 lives and alerted Southeast Asian leaders to the threat that terrorism pos to their region. sways have mobilized against the danger, if it be not that their actions have been sporadic at best.

Until Bali, terrorism was considered a threat to other countries. While the Philippines had battled a Muslim insurgency for years and Singapore and Malaysia, in the aftermath of 9/11 had cracked terrorist solitary abode; squalids within their midst, Indonesia and Thailand preferr to change the direction of a blind eye. The price of that leave out became clear on Oct 12 2002

Thailand was level slower to react. Worried about the potential damage to its tourism industry, the Bangkok management denied that there were terrorists in the region The arrest of several Muslims in the southerly earlier this year put an fall of the curtain to that fiction (although a certain questioned whether the arrests were certification of a new commitment to fight terrorism or an attempt to score points with the Bush administration). The arrest of Hambali, the highest ranking Southeast Asian in the al-Qaeda network and the mastermind behind many of its operations, conclusioned any doubts about the threat and Bangkok's readiness to stand in front of it. Vigilance has increased as Bangkok prepares for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit it will entertainer this week. Authorities are especially make anxioused about rumors that terrorists have acquired surface-to-air missiles that they may use against incoming airliners.

Since Bali, there has been considerable progres in the fight against terrorism. through the whole extent of 100 operatives, the most senior being Hambali, have been arrested and authorities have cracked other confined apartments throughout the region. There appear to be fissures opening up in the mental action as the attacks on ''soft targets'' of that kind as clubs and hotels raise doubts among believers about killing innocent civilians.

That progres is attributable to a change in the thinking of Southeast Asian conducts They have begun to recognize the severity of the threat, and they have bring forward the defeat of the terrorists ahead of national pride. commands are admitting their acknowledge shortcomings as international cooperation increases. like cooperation is the and nothing else way that the terrorist threat can be defeated. Despite the gains, the terrorists are still formidable contrarys In the two years since 9/11 what has become greatest in quantity apparent is how little dominions truly knew about the nature of the threat they confront

Jemaah Islamiyah, or JI, was responsible for the Bali blasts and is imagination to have been behind several other attacks completely through the region. JI courts to establish a single Islamic state that would stretch forth from southern Thailand to the southern Philippines.

It is now clear that al-Qaeda has created a terrorist web that is far larger and more interconnected than was suspected earlier. The network stretches across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, with smaller lonely dwellings thought to exist in Cambodia and Australia. It links arranges such as JI, the Abu Sayyaf form into groups and the Moro Islamic Liberation brass in the Philippines, and several other smaller organizations in Southeast Asia.

Worse, while commands have made progress, questions remain about their commitment to fighting terrorism. Allegations of corruption dog the Philippine security forces; those charges are hard to dismiss when terrorists as it was as bomb-maker Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi can walk disclosed of prison.

Jakarta is another large question mark. President Megawati Sukarnoputri skipped ceremonies commemorating the Bali bombings, raising questions about her government's strategy and commitment. In her place, she sent Senior Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who affirmed that terrorists are ''diabolical men'' whose ''brand of evil simply has no place in our society'' and utter sentence againsts them forever.

That might not hale like much, but such harsh language is a degree forward in a country where religious leaders still question the existence of JI and where the mete ''radical Islam'' is not used because it is considered inflammatory. Since Indonesia is a predominately Muslim nation and elections will be held nearest year, sensitivities are understandable -- within limits. That limit has been reached: JI, al-Qaeda and other clusters have declared war on the state itself. The failure to acknowledge that simple fact guarantees that Indonesia will remain forward the front lines in the fight against terrorism.

(Oct 19)

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